The Pale Rider

by J B Trepagnier

  I slung the bat over my shoulder and went back into the living room. Aeron scanned me from head to toe with this look on his face that he quickly hid. He threw an empty rucksack at me that would have hit me in the face if I hadn’t caught it. Dick.

  “Canned goods and non-perishables only. If you see bottled water, don’t put it in your bag until you’ve shown it to me, and I can verify it’s safe. If we hit up a store with a pharmacy attached, it’ll probably already be raided, but we still need to go through it. Most likely, they’ve taken anything that gets you high, but we might luck out and find antibiotics. If you find over-the-counter pain meds, grab them. Those are solid gold. Get in, get out, stay quiet, and try not to be seen. There will probably be Rage Heads loitering about. Kill them as quietly as you can. The noise you hear them make in the hospital is how they call each other. They hunt in herds.”

  “Got it.”

  Aeron just sniffed.

  “I highly doubt it. Just stay close to me until we’ve cleared the store and don’t wander.”

  This asshole right here. I waited while he saddled that creepy horse, and I knew I didn’t imagine it the other day when its eyes flashed red. I swear that thing’s eyes flashed red again, and it winked at me. He came at me like he would throw me on top like last time.

  “Can you put me up there like I’m a human and not a sack of potatoes this time?”

  Aeron just grunted at me again. Of course, the one man I’m stuck with during the apocalypse speaks in grunts and happens to be a dick. But at least I didn’t have to desperately grab for something as I went flying over that beast. He was much more gentle as he put me on the back of the horse this time.

  Aeron climbed on behind me, and I so shouldn’t be thinking about what his muscular chest felt like pressed against my back when he was such a douche. Did I date total assholes before I lost my memories?

  He did that thing again where he kicked the horse like we were in some fucking horse race, but at least I was used to it this time. I didn’t fall off last time, and that horse seemed to obey him. It wasn’t like we had other methods of transportation, and I didn’t want to get surrounded and outnumbered by a gang of cannibal rapists. I still thought there was something unnatural about that horse, but it answered to Aeron and Aeron didn’t want to kill me, so I guess the horse wouldn’t either.

  The cabin Aeron found must have been super remote not to have been looted or recovered by someone else before he got there. It was far away from town, but with the horse running impossibly fast, it didn’t take long to get there. Weren’t horses supposed to get tired? Like, I didn’t think I’d ever been around one before, but shouldn’t you give them a break if you would run them this hard?

  This horse kept a hard gallop right until I started seeing buildings, then Aeron slowed him to a trot. I couldn’t even hear the horse breathing hard like all that running did anything to him. This wasn’t a normal horse.

  Aeron let go of my waist, and his sword just kind of appeared again. Where the fuck did he keep that thing, anyway? Did I want to ask?

  “What orifice did you pull that from?” I hissed.

  “Shut up and stay alert. Scooter’s gang is normally a town over on Fridays, but we don’t want to risk them changing their schedule. You will call a swarm of Rage Heads if you don’t shut the fuck up.”

  I snapped my mouth shut and eyed my surroundings. This town looked totally dead. It looked like it had been an old-fashioned town before the world ended, and now it looked like a ghost town. Most of the windows were smashed, and there was dirt everywhere. It looked like Washington State was some sort of desert out here in this city.

  As we made our way through this city, I had one big question on my mind. If Aeron and his friends had all the answers and killing one man was the answer to stopping all of this, why the fuck did they let it get so bad? This was just fucking bleak. We were the only living souls in this town except possibly a gang who could be out here looking for someone to rape and eat.

  Was everyone dead except this Scooter and his gang? I couldn’t ask right now because I knew we had to stay quiet. Aeron brought the horse up to a little mom and pop store and dismounted. He helped me down and smacked the horse on the ass. The horse took off. Wasn’t that our ride home? Why wasn’t he tying it to a post like they did in movies?

  “Simpson’s Grocery is the only shop I haven’t hit up yet. I haven’t found a local pharmacy, so there’s a good chance it’s in that store.”

  “Where’d our ride home go?”

  “To safety. He’d be a sitting duck if I tied him down. He’s not the kind of beast you chain up. He’ll come when I call him. Now, get your bat ready. The Rage Heads haven’t spotted us yet, but there’s a ninety-nine percent chance there will be some inside the store. The looters who broke the windows made sure the Rage Heads would be in most places anyone tried to get supplies from later.”

  Okay, I didn’t know much about horses, but that couldn’t be a normal horse. I just shrugged. I already knew Aeron would not tell me a fucking thing. The best thing to do was to go with the flow until I couldn’t anymore. Aeron would eventually trust me with his secrets, or I would get to the point that I needed to strike out on my own because I figured out he was crazier than a shit house rat.

  Aeron held his sword up and moved towards the door. He held his fingers to his lips and reminded me again to be totally quiet. Like I didn’t know that by now, but he was talking too like apocalypse rules didn’t apply to him.

  The lock on the door was long broken. Aeron turned the knob and snuck in on silent feet. I held Smurfette at ready and followed. I should have been scared. I’d seen those things at the hospital. I saw what they did to the staff. I was about to go into a cramped space with just me and a guy I was pretty sure was crazy who had a sword. I had to be insane to be out here with no memories and trusting the first person I met.

  But there was something about the blue baseball bat that seemed familiar. There was something about it that made me think I could do anything. Even if I didn’t remember shit, I could take on a few cannibal corpses with this thing. And if Aeron and that crazy horse proved to be false friends, I could bash their heads in too.

  The store was dim when I stepped inside. The only light was sunlight filtering through the broken glass at the front of the store. I didn’t hear that awful wailing noise again, but I could hear the shuffling of feet among debris on the floor.

  My heart was racing. I needed to kill these things before they could call for backup. Aeron said they hunted in packs, and that noise I heard called the other Rage Heads. We needed to kill every single one of them in this store before we ended up in some swarm in this cramped space. I already knew I didn’t like small spaces.

  I didn’t focus on the shelves or filling my rucksack. I knew that was the entire reason we were out here, but if I was working with Aeron, we needed to work as a team. Let him fill his rucksack, and I could watch his back killing these things. Or, he could watch mine while I snatched shit, but he had more experience with supply runs than I did, so he knew what to grab.

  I turned the corner and spotted one. He wasn’t moving fast like the one at the hospital. He was just standing in the center of an empty bread aisle rotting in place. Think, Ariel. Aeron said they hunted by sound and smell. I couldn’t do much about what I smelled like, but I could be quiet.

  Aeron had grabbed a pair of black stompy boots from my old apartment. They fit like an old friend and were surprisingly quiet on this linoleum floor. I just needed to not step on anything left on the floor. I raised Smurfette and locked my gaze on my prey. It was all well and good being told things about the Rage Heads, but I needed to study them and figure out how to kill them myself.

  This one was just standing in the center of the aisle, letting out soft moans. How close could I get to it before it realized I was there and attacked? That was something I needed to learn for myself. I needed to study these dead bastards in their natural environment, so they di
dn’t eat me.

  I crept up behind it. Closer and closer. Just a little bit more. I needed to avoid everything on the floor. I got precisely five feet behind it before it whirled around lightning fast and snarled at me. This was a ripe one. One of its eyeballs was dangling out its head. Gross. I needed to bash its head in before it called for more.

  The nasty thing lunged at me, and I met it. It was way faster than I was. Whatever mutation these things had made them move much faster than regular humans. I gripped Smurfette and swung. That thing’s rotten fingers brushed my forearm right as Smurfette made contact with its head. I heard a sickening crack, and the thing fell over in a heap.

  One down. How many were in here? I made my way to the end of the aisle. This would be so much easier if I had a way to communicate with Aeron. I saw black blood spreading at the end of the aisle. Aeron must have gotten one with his sword. I stepped around the blood and found a headless corpse. I kicked its head away and kept going.

  There was the deader Rage Head. Where was Aeron? Shouldn’t we check-in? I looked down the next aisle. There was another headless Rage Head. Well, shit. Aeron killed two, and I only had one. I was slacking. I moved as quietly as I could, making my way to the back of the store while checking for the Rage Heads. I didn’t find any that needed to be killed. Aeron had gotten most of them.

  I met him at the very back by a pharmacy counter.

  “We hit the jackpot. It looks like most people hit the other grocery store here and focused on raiding the pharmacy. I will still hit up the pharmacy and see if there’s anything good. Clearing out a pharmacy is hard if there’s anything in there because space is always smaller, and the shelves are cramped. You never know when you step inside if it’s just one, or the place is filled with them.”

  I knew why we had to do this, but could I also say I hated the idea of going into a cramped space with these things? I knew Aeron had done this alone countless times and could probably do this without me, but I couldn’t exactly tell him I wasn’t going in there with him because I had claustrophobia.

  I would have to nut up, deal with it, and go in there even if the idea made me want to nope right out of this entire store. I took a deep breath.

  “What’s the strategy for going in there? I don’t know about before, but right now, I have a problem with small spaces. I’m going in there anyway, but it would make things a lot easier if I knew there was a plan.”

  “There is a plan. I go in, and you stay out. Go out to the rest of the store and start filling your rucksack. Monitor the rest of the store for Rage Heads sneaking through the windows or Scooter’s gang making a surprise visit to the town.”

  “Shouldn’t I help now that I’m here?”

  “You are helping by getting supplies and keeping watch. Let me deal with the pharmacy. We’ll tag team it.”

  I knew he was just making me feel better. What happened to me that I had such a problem with small spaces? Did Aeron know, and he wasn’t telling me? At least I was helping a little.

  I set back into the store and started exploring. There were some canned goods still left, but they were dented, and the label was long gone. It wouldn’t hurt to grab them, anyway. For all I knew, I was grabbing nothing but canned tomatoes, but if Aeron could hunt deer, we could find a way to make deer stew with it. We couldn’t exactly be picky. Maybe some of these were canned pears. I just had this feeling I used to like pears.

  I went towards the back of the store. There was a lone jumbo box of tampons. Aeron might not need that shit, but I did, and if he said anything about them being a necessity, I would shove one up his nose while he slept. No one called off periods during the apocalypse, though someone probably should. It was only fair.

  The store was pretty bleak. I hoped Aeron had better luck than I did. I got a bunch of unlabeled cans and my tampons. My rucksack was full, but Aeron hadn’t come out of the pharmacy yet. I decided to check on him. He said tag team it. I was tagging him by checking on his ass, even if he probably didn’t need me.

  The pharmacy door was open, and I didn’t hear any sounds from inside.

  “Aeron?” I hissed.

  Nothing.

  “You grumpy asshole, are you alive in there?”

  He’d better not be dead. If he were just playing games with me, then I’d make him dead. I stepped inside the pharmacy, and it felt like someone had sucked the oxygen from the room. My heart was pounding in my ears, and I felt like I would vomit. All my instincts were screaming at me to get the fuck out of here, but if Aeron was in trouble, I needed to find him.

  I took a step forward, and it was like black spots started clouding my vision. I was getting dizzy. The walls were closing in on me, and this room was getting even smaller. I needed to get the fuck out of there, but I also needed to find Aeron. My foot felt like lead as I tried to move it forward. My feet wanted to be running out of there, and I was forcing them onward.

  There was this pounding in my ears, and the black spots were increasing. I tried to ignore it. What if Aeron was hurt? I needed to know if he was dead. I needed to see it. If he was a Rage Head now, then I needed to give him peace. I just needed to find him.

  I saw him through the haze of black spots in my vision. He was alive, and he had this look of panic in his eyes. That was for me, I thought. He went running towards me like he was worried about me instead of me coming in here to check on him.

  Aeron caught me right as I passed out.

  Chapter 8

  S

  omething stank, and it differed from the usual rotting apocalypse stank that was in the air now. I heard someone call my name, and then someone slapped me in the face. I bolted to a sitting position trying to figure out who I needed to punch. I was lying on the sidewalk outside of the grocery store we just looted in Aeron’s lap. And he fucking slapped me.

  “What the fuck, Aeron?”

  “You tried to come to the pharmacy. You had a panic attack and passed out.”

  “I did not!”

  I already knew I did, but I was embarrassed as fuck it happened. Maybe if I denied it happened, he would pretend like it didn’t. I didn’t want to be the weakest link in this whole assassination plot. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to take part, but I didn’t want to get dumped before I figured that out because I couldn’t deal with small spaces.

  “Ariel, you have serious claustrophobia. You could have helped out better looting the store, and you wouldn’t have had to go through that. Why did you come back there, and why didn’t you leave when you started having a panic attack?”

  “I filled my rucksack, and I thought you’d been gone too long. I was checking on you. I got worried when I called your name, and you didn’t answer. I thought you were hurt. What the fuck were you doing, and why didn’t you answer?”

  “Because I hit the fucking jackpot in that pharmacy. Everyone was so concerned about the meds, and they didn’t pay any attention to the locked door in the back. It’s an extra storeroom for the grocery store. There are labeled cans, chips, and cookies in there. Dump out your bag. I even found your favorite. They have Cheetos in there!”

  Aeron was so excited about his find, but I couldn’t remember a thing about liking Cheetos. Maybe when I ate them, I would have another flash of my past life. This was good. Aeron found a stash we could use, I learned a little about killing Rage Heads, and I discovered I couldn’t handle small spaces at all without fainting. I’d have to get over the whole small spaces shit fast because I was sure I would have to hide in some, eventually.

  Aeron helped me to my feet this time and led me back into the store.

  “See if you can find more bags. I’ll load everything in the supply closet up. Stand watch and don’t come back in the pharmacy.”

  I felt seriously unhelpful as I just stood there and watched the door and a broken window. He spent all the time casing this place and learning the local gang’s raiding schedule. He was the one that found the secret stash. I got a bunch of dented cans. I was pretty lousy at this whole
apocalypse thing, but at least I managed to kill one of them. And I found some bags so Aeron could bring more home with us.

  Aeron finally came out with both of our rucksacks and two garbage bags full of stuff. He also had this massive smile on his face like he just stopped the apocalypse. He handed me the backpack and one of the garbage bags, and we stepped outside. The horse was standing there waiting for us like he knew we just finished. I knew he wasn’t standing outside when I was watching the window. That wasn’t a normal fucking horse. The horse knew that I knew that too because I swear it just winked at me again.

  Aeron tied our haul to the saddle and helped me up a little more gracefully this time. I felt less like a sack of potatoes this time. He climbed up behind me, and I didn’t even react when the horse took off running like a bat out of Hell. I just expected it. The horse was some sort of devil horse, and it answered to Aeron. And I agreed to trust Aeron. Somehow, I got the feeling that wasn’t the dumbest thing I’d ever done in my life. I mean, I had a baby blue baseball bat I named Smurfette. There was a good chance I had been pretty fucking weird before I lost my memories.

  The ride back to the cabin was long, and Aeron pushed the horse pretty hard. And I got this weird feeling the horse liked it too. I got this vibe off the horse it enjoyed riding hard and fast into some sort of battle where it got to trample people with those enormous hooves of his.

  I got this flash in my head, and I had no idea where it came from. It couldn’t be a memory because it wasn’t possible. I saw Aeron sitting on top of that horse, but he was different. His hair was longer and flowing in waves down his back. The sword he always carried was in flames, but it wasn’t burning him on the horse. The horse’s eyes were glowing red like I’d seen flashes of.